You Can Lead A Speedster To Water
by oneiromancer242
Summary: Reader prompt. Heatwave hell has struck Westchester, nothing for it but to hit the pool. But when Erik finds out why his son won't join in the fun, he decides to take matters into his own hands.
1. Chapter 1

**Another reader prompt, this time from hp80, who has a very specific request involving the students of the Academy and a swimming pool. Probably only going to be a two or three parter, with added Dadneto and a partially disrobed Peter for your enjoyment. Petra (and the guest reviewer who gave me a similar prompt) I'll do it, but give me some time to think. In the meantime keep your suggestions coming :-)**

Charles clapped his hands together loudly to call the attention of the entire common room. Not that there was too much noise in there at the moment, most of the students either slumped in their chairs or having retired to their rooms to try and sleep off the heat. He cleared his throat, and said

"In light of the heatwave – and the fact that we currently don't have any way to change it – your classes for the rest of the week have been cancelled" there was a very lacklustre cheer from someone, "When Storm returns on Monday you can expect to be back to it, so enjoy your break. Use it wisely. And please, we don't want anybody else getting heatstroke so do be sensible. That's all"

He wheeled away, pulled at the collar of his t-shirt, already drenched in sweat despite having dressed down. It would have to be the one week of the year when Storm had asked for some leave that they were hit with a heatwave, wouldn't it? The entire student body was discontented and fractious, nobody able to concentrate, and Hank already had two of the younger students down in the infirmary. Unfortunately for everybody, one of those students was Bobby Drake, who had been in such high demand to cool everybody off since the hot weather began yesterday that he'd worn himself out and collapsed, leaving nobody with any fresh ice on hand. It was impossible to teach them in this weather – and more impossible still to ask them to train, even if the Danger Room was air conditioned, they'd still collapse the moment they stepped out of it in their uniforms.

Practically laying on a sofa next to Scott with her shirt tied above her midriff and the tiniest pair of shorts she could find, Jean fanned herself for a while, then got too hot to move that much. Scott moaned at her

"Don't stop" he grumbled, "The breeze was nice"

"My arm's tired, and so is my head. Hey, Peter?" Sat opposite her and equally slumped, Peter grunted at her and didn't open his eyes. "Can't you whip up a little tornado or something and cool us off?"

"You're kidding, right?" he replied, wiped a hand over his sweating face with distaste, "I couldn't whip up a bowl of Cool Whip right now. You think I'm moving then think again"

"How come you're suffering?" Jean complained, made a feeble attempt at fanning again, "You're always moaning about being cold, shouldn't this weather suit you?"

"Heat's no good for him either," Angela muttered, not moving from her position laying with her feet dangling off the sofa and her head on Peter's middle, "crazy metabolism and all that. He'll overheat too fast"

"Plus I'll probably faint, it's too hot to eat much," he added, "So unless you wanna put me in the sick bay with Bobby and Marie, no tornados today"

"We could go swim" Jubilee suggested wearily. "If we can be bothered to walk down to the pool that is"

A thought seemed to strike her then, and she raised her head from where it had been lolling, looking up at Kurt perched on a chandelier with a naughty little smile. He was half dozing on the gently rocking fixture, and she took careful aim before shooting a shower of sparks at him that made him jump enough to come crashing to the floor with a bump. He swore colourfully in German, rubbed his head and sat up.

"What was that for?!" he cried, "I didn't drool, did I?"

"I bet you can't teleport us all to the pool at once" Jubilation grinned. She knew he could, but Kurt responded to challenges much better than he did to requests. In so many ways, she thought, he was exactly like a normal teenage boy. Kurt drew himself up indignantly

"I CAN!" he said, petulant, "All you would have to do is hang on to me!"

"Dogpile!" she said brightly, flinging herself onto the blue boy, the others followed, grabbing onto fur and tail and ignoring his protests. Only Peter didn't move, peering at them as if he found them very amusing.

"Aren't you coming, Maximoff?" Scott asked, Peter stretched and stood

"I'll walk. See you guys down there" he yawned, rolled his shoulders back. They cracked satisfyingly, "I'll freeze up if I don't move soon"

With that the heap of Mutants was gone. Peter heard a faint splash and several yells of surprise. By the time he had strolled down to the poolside most of his classmates were pulling themselves fully clothed out of the pool, spitting out water.

"TO the pool, Kurt" Scott was saying, "TO, not IN-TO. Your English still needs some work"

"Sorry," Kurt shrugged, gave him a toothy smile, looked anything but sorry "But you're cooler now, _ja?_ "

"C'mon guys, we're only in shorts and shirts. We can swim like this"

Jubilee pulled her hair out of its pigtails and laid her fancy bands by the side of the pool carefully, slipped off her tennis shoes, and held her nose to cannonball straight back into the deep end. The rest followed, leaving soggy shoes and shirts to dry in the baking sun, splashing happily and enjoying not feeling like baked potatoes for a while. Noticing only when they were cooler and more refreshed that Peter hadn't joined them, and had in fact settled himself on a sun lounger with his shirt off and his headphones in, stretched out comfortably with his hands behind his head.

"My god, could you *be* any skinnier?" Scott remarked. Peter took out one earbud headphone and didn't move to reply

"A, yes I could, but it's not pretty. B. You're just jealous you couldn't eat junk seven days a week and look like this, and most importantly C. I'm not skinny, just small"

He stretched back as if to prove a point, flexed the lean, flat and very visible muscles in his abdomen, and settled down with both headphones back in, considering the argument won. Angela jumped on Scott and ducked his head underwater, careful to hold his shades on as she did. She perhaps more than any of them knew how Peter hated being teased about his size, and was keen to shut the boy up before he really hurt his feelings. Scott came up spluttering, turning to the girl with a worried look

"Are you sure you're okay in here Spark? I mean – electricity and water…"

She held up her wrists to show him the two thick bracelets she always wore and grinned

"Totally. These are guaranteed water-resistant and rust-free, and accidental electrocution-free" she playfully splashed a little water at her boyfriend, leaned on the side of the pool, "Aren't you going to come in for a bit?"

"Nah, I just got this album, you guys have fun – I'm good right here"

Shrugging and accepting it, she pushed away from the side, happy alongside the others for a good couple of hours until they had felt refreshed enough to go in for dinner.

They next day had been the same, only this time Peter had refused to join them claiming he didn't have any goggles and hated getting water in his eyes. Rolling said eyes at Jubilee when she had pointed out that he had numerous pairs of goggles

"They're *running* goggles" he told her, "They're not waterproof"

Next time it was that he didn't want to mess up his hair, then it was that he'd just had a big lunch, then that he was just too damn tired and would they please leave him the hell alone and let him relax in peace? Walking back to the Academy on Saturday afternoon, Jean had fallen into step beside him – he was far too hot for any decent speed – and quietly said

"Peter, can you swim?"

He gave her an incredulous, calculated sneer.

"Of course I can! Just because I choose not to do something doesn't mean I can't! I mean, you can levitate, but you don't fly about all the time do you?"

"I can also read minds," she said with a faint smile. Peter's sneer vanished, caught in an undeniable lie. He folded his arms petulantly.

"You know what? I've kinda had it with all the telepaths around here. Next time I see Dad I'm gonna ask him for –" he stopped short, seeing Erik coming the other way. He *must* have heard him, he'd raised his voice. Damn him and his mouth.

"Ask me for….?" Erik asked, meeting them with a ghost of a smile playing around his lips.

"A helmet" Peter snapped, "I want a Magneto-Junior helmet to stop all these freakin' telepaths jumping into my head whenever they feel like it. What if I was thinking about something you didn't wanna see, huh Jean?"

He gave her a meaningful look. She blushed deep red and looked away quickly

"I can't believe you just thought that" she stammered, "Scott and I do not... I mean, we haven't….. *really* Peter? Whipped cream?!"

"And chocolate sauce." He added, smirked at her, "Now stay out of my damn head from now on or I'll throw something *really* dirty out there"

Jean looked at him hard for a moment, then laughed, punched him lightly in the shoulder and left him standing with Erik. He regarded his son, barefoot and wearing only a pair of grey denim cut-offs that showed the full extent of his legs beautifully, wondered why he didn't tan when by all accounts he'd spent most of the past four days laying out in the sun.

"What was that all about?" he asked, walked with Peter as they headed back to the school. The boy shrugged. Erik was learning that there was a whole Peter Language of Shrugs, and this one was the 'don't want to talk about it but I'll probably talk about it because I'm kind of upset and won't be able to help it' shrug. Erik rested a hand on his shoulder, squeezed lightly. Started a count of ten. Before he had got to four, Peter blurted out

"They keep trying to get me to swim with them!"

"And what's so bad about that?" Erik asked, and immediately knew by the way the boy's shoulders tensed that he'd put his foot in it.

"Nothing! Everything! Just….." Peter sighed, drew his arms in more tightly around himself, "I can't swim, okay? Wanda's the swimmer in the family, I can't do it – I sink"

"You…"

"Sink. Like a stone, dude. Wanda's swim coach said she was good because she's all" he traced a feminine shape in the air in front of him, "apparently curves are good for swimming. I'm just not curvy enough I guess"

Erik looked at him, tried not to stare too hard. It was easy to make people feel like a bug on a pin with his habitual penetrating stare. The boy certainly was anything but curvy, there wasn't a spare ounce on him, and back when he would have been trying to learn to swim Erik knew from photographs that he'd been even slighter. Not much good for keeping afloat, really. But it couldn't be impossible. Erik squeezed his shoulder again, kept his silence, and started to form a plan in his mind.

 **A/N : Peter in nothing but cut-offs. Just going to leave you with that thought...**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N : Honk if you love Dadneto!**

By the following Saturday, everyone was feeling much more alive after a good thunderstorm, whipped up by their resident weather manipulator, had cleared the air. It was still warm and sunny, but no longer oppressively so. Gorgeous weather for a run, in other words. Used to being alone in the dining hall for a good long while, Peter froze with a glass of juice halfway to his mouth as he saw Erik walking across the floor toward him, yawning and stretching.

"Can't sleep?" Peter asked him, gulped down his juice, started in on the toast

"Nothing of the sort. I'm up early to see you"

"That's cute, Dadneto. Bonding time again? Don't you have things to go destroy instead?"

"Your sarcasm can be very unbecoming at times, Peter" Erik warned darkly, disarmed with a grin, reaching for the coffee, "If you're too busy to spend time with me, then –"

"No no really, it's cool!" Peter said quickly, "just… unexpected, that's all. You do know it's not even six yet, right?"

"Yes, and you have been awake since at least three I imagine. If you didn't have any other plans, I thought we could go out this morning. Just the two of us"

"Like anyone else is up," the boy muttered, demolished his fifth slice, "Why do people need so much sleep anyway? It drives me crazy… I mean, all they ever seem to do is sleep and then complain that they're tired when they've hardly done anything and then sleep some more, it's like –"

"Peter" Erik closed his eyes, looked pained, held up a finger, "a little peace? At least let me drink my coffee before you start. And make it a light breakfast this morning"

"Can you define 'light' for me?"

"Perhaps only twice as much a normal person?" Erik suggested. Peter looked aghast.

"Why you tryin' to starve me, man?" he asked in a small voice. Erik grinned conspiratorially at him and simply said

"You'll be glad. Trust me"

Peter had complained for most of the rest of the meal, and complained even more when Erik had walked straight to his car when they got outside. Erik almost turned back and abandoned his plan for the morning, wondering if he could actually put up with a whiny speedster for another second before he throttled the whine right out of him. He grit his teeth, got in the car. Started it, looked at Peter curled up in the seat looking thoroughly miserable.

"Are you going to sulk all day?" he snapped. Reached across and yanked the seatbelt around the boy.

"Only until lunch" Peter mumbled, sunk down in his seat and put his feet on the dashboard, started fiddling with the radio. "Where are we going anyway? Am I going to hate it? Chances are I'm going to hate it if you're going to half-starve me before we even go, you know I get really cranky when I'm hungry, right? You know I could faint and *die*? I'll tell Mom about this, you see if I – "

Erik reached into the back and dumped a bag containing several of Hank's finest Sawdust Specials into the boy's lap.

"What did I do?" Peter asked. Erik was surprised to see that his eyes looked a little damp, "Seriously, Dad, what the hell did I do to deserve this? Whatever it was I'm really sorry, can you maybe stop punishing me?"

"Are you going to bolt out of this car if I tell you where we're going?" Erik sighed, clenched his hands white on the steering wheel.

"No"

"A friend of mine in town is away for the week. He has a pool. I'm going to teach you to swim. Now do you understand why I don't want you to weigh yourself down?"

"I don't see why it matters when I sink anyway!" Peter yelled, "What good is knowing how to swim? For all you know I'm fast enough to run on water! I can run, Wanda can swim, that's the way it works, I don't need to change it, I don't WANT to change it, I. Do. Not. Care. That. I. Can't. Swim"

"Well you seemed to care quite a bit the other day!" Erik yelled back, surprised at his ferocity, "And if you're ever out on a mission and end up stranded in water, then you will certainly be bloody glad that you learned!"

Erik took his eyes off the road for a moment when no reply came. Peter had curled himself up even more, it was amazing how tiny a space he could fit himself into when he wanted to. Staring away from him out of the window, but Erik could tell by the little hitches in his chest that he was crying. He felt awful for yelling, tried a gentler tone

"Peter, I –"

"If you make me wear those dumb floaty armbands, I'm gonna kill you" he said bitterly, and didn't turn back for the rest of the journey or say another word.

The pool wasn't even as big as the one in the Mansion grounds, but Peter still eyed it as if it might contain lurking sharks. Stinging Erik with a glare and sitting down beside it in a thorough huff

"Did it cross your mind that I don't have any trunks, given as how I don't swim?"

He flinched as something hit him in the face, pulling the soft object away and holding up a pair of bright blue trunks decorated with friendly-looking cartoon dinosaurs. He gave Erik the hardest, meanest look he had. His father shrugged, slipping out of his shirt and folding it neatly.

"I couldn't find your size in adult colours. I didn't think you'd mind"

He turned away, looking back a moment later to see his son shifting uncomfortably from one foot to the other, hugging his arms around himself as if to try to conceal as much of his body as possible, scowling as if he could somehow develop eye-blasts any moment if he glared hard enough. To make matters worse, he felt tiny next to his father, who had a remarkably good body for his age, strongly build and deep-chested with hard, muscular legs. At least he'd inherited that much. He watched Erik descend into the pool, didn't move an inch. Erik waded over, held out both arms.

"Come on," he said as gently as he could. Peter didn't move, "We're just going to try and float for a little while"

At last, the boy lowered himself down to sit on the edge of the pool. He looked petrified, swallowed hard.

"You promise I'll be safe?" he asked. Erik thought he sounded so young it hurt his heart, "You'll keep me up, won't you? You won't let me drown?"

"I promise," Erik said solemnly, feeling his son's arms shaking as he finally lowered himself down into the water. Just stood for a moment. Peter's legs felt like jelly, feeling like his head would go under if he moved the slightest fraction of an inch. He shivered.

"It's cold" he complained

"You'll acclimatise fast enough. Now, just trust me, alright?"

He looked down into his son's huge, terrified eyes, tried to project all the caring and protectiveness he felt into his voice. Peter had a death grip on his hands and wasn't letting it up. This was going to be a very long morning. Eventually the vice-like grip had relaxed a very little, allowing Erik to move and place one hand on his son's back.

"Try and lay back," he said soothingly, "I've got you, don't worry. Just lay back and take your feet off the floor, I'll catch your legs"

"No way dude, no way no how!"

A little splash and Erik was alone in the pool, looking around for a minute before he had spotted Peter huddled into a ball with his arms clamped around his knees, as far away from the pool as he could get. He sighed. Climbed out, went to sit beside the little shaking bundle and put his arm around him.

"Look, I had a talk to Hank, when I had this idea," he said quietly, "He says you should float better now than you did when you were younger, now that your mutation has settled properly"

"Why?!" Peter demanded, voice sounding small and strangled, "I'm no fatter than I was, and I'm *definitely* heavier, why should I float any better now?"

"Hank thinks that part of the pain you had when you were growing up was the structure of your bones changing. As you know, you have bones like a bird – very light and hollow, filled with lots of pockets of air. Without full-density bones to drag you down, it shouldn't matter that you don't have any fat to keep you afloat. We think it should help you a lot, if you'll try"

Peter didn't say anything for a long while, until at last he had looked up at his father and tried out a smile. It was a tiny, wobbly effort, but it made Erik feel slightly better.

"Did Mom tell you I liked dinosaurs?" he asked. Erik smiled back, even laughed a little.

"No. Just a lucky guess"

"I can't get in there again, I can't make myself do it" Peter took a deep, shuddering breath, "But if you carry me in, I'll try not to freak out, okay?"

Erik nodded, scooped him up.

It took Peter almost an hour to stop shaking, repeatedly stopping at the last moment before he allowed himself to take his feet off the floor. Eventually though, he had trusted Erik enough to hold him and done it.

"See?" Erik told him, smiled down though the boy had his eyes tightly shut, "You're quite safe. I bet if I took my hands away you'd stay floating just fine"

"Don't you DARE!" Peter yelled at him, but when his eyes flew open he saw that Erik was standing with his arms hanging by his side. Clamped down hard on his panic, fought the urge to thrash. Forced himself to lie still and trust that Erik wouldn't let his head go underwater.

"Am I floating?" he asked, voice shaky. Erik nodded, smiled proudly at him. Then he was suddenly climbing up his father's body like a cat, arms and legs both wrapped around him, trembling again. Erik clutched on tightly to the wet slippery body, waded over to the side and set him down. Peter gave him a mournful look, pulled the offered towel around his shoulders and hunched over, folding his arms tightly around his stomach.

"Please can we stop now?" he begged, "I genuinely think I'm gonna faint from hunger in a minute. No kidding this time"

Erik laughed and clambered out of the pool to dry off, believed him. Truth be told Peter had already been unexpectedly patient, he'd been able to hear the poor kid's belly growling for the last fifteen minutes but he hadn't even complained until now.

"Get dressed then, and we can go find you something horribly greasy" he picked his son up and set him on his feet, dried his hair off roughly, "I'm very proud of you, you know"

Peter grinned shyly at him, pulled him into a dripping wet hug.

"We can come back tomorrow though, right?"


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N : Okay, so four parts. Four is just three that got ahead o itself... Thanks to that one Guest who honked like a crazy goose in the reviews, for all your reviews, and for reading.**

Confused for a moment, Erik glanced at his watch, finding himself alone in the dining hall. It was a strangely big place, without anybody in it, and for a moment he felt very sorry for his son eating breakfast here alone every morning. Caught up in that thought, he jumped when Peter had suddenly spoken from beside him.

"You ready?" he asked. Erik thought he saw a tiny hint of eagerness hiding behind his nerves, but couldn't be sure.

"Have you had breakfast?"

"Technically, if by that you mean a tiny scrap of breakfast. C'mon, the sooner we go the more time we'll have before I pass out"

Erik appreciated him staying at his pace – and staying remarkably quiet – as they walked out to the car. Checked the swim bag in the backseat briefly

"Do you have my ickle dino trunkies?" Peter asked, "And my little floaties, and my bath toys?"

"What did I say about sarcasm?" Erik settled himself in his seat, looked over at his son and frowned. He had a pair of goggles perched on his head, which in itself was nothing unusual, but these were bright red plastic and had large daisies decorating the strap.

"If you laugh, I'm getting out of this car right now" Peter warned. Erik somehow suppressed all but the tiniest smirk. "These are Wanda's. No I don't know how they got into my case, and yes I will give them back and get some of my own, but for now they're all I have, OK?"

"Did she ever win anything wearing them?" _apart from Worst Dressed Competitor,_ he added silently.

"A silver medal, once. In the regional finals. I went to see her swim that time even though Mom thought I should have been home in bed. Tell the truth, I was pretty badly sick that day. I'm glad I went though. She never competed again"

"They'll bring you good luck" Erik said, tapped the lenses of the goggles and ignored his son's not entirely unkind glare. "We're getting coffee on the drive, by the way. This is decidedly not my choicest hour for waking up"

Getting Erik's morning shot of wakefulness at a fast food drive-thru, where Peter had gazed longingly at the menu but did not complain, they had parked and changed. Still a great deal of trepidation before the boy would get into the water, but Erik thought he looked much less terrified than before. Taking a deep breath and sitting on the edge of the pool. He tried his damndest to look relaxed, by Erik could see the white tension in his knuckles gripping the edge.

"What is it today, Sensai Dadneto?" he asked, finally lowering himself in. Why did the water have to be so freakin' _cold?!_

"Just get comfortable for a few minutes. Then we can try some kicking. Is that alright with you?"

Peter nodded, shook his head, nodded again. Pulled Wanda's goggles down over his eyes. Let his father lower him down, proving to himself that he really did float unaided. Erik made encouraging noises, and after a short while took a gentle hold of his body again.

"Try your very best not to panic, Peter. I'm going to turn you over"

"Why do people always say 'don't panic' when there's definitely something to panic about?"

Nevertheless, despite a shake he couldn't stop Peter let Erik gently roll him over, feeling his father's hands come to grip his waist firmly. Automatically, he craned his neck back to stop the water getting in his face and started making ineffectual paddling motions with his hands. Erik laughed

"Nice doggy-paddling," he remarked, "Puppydog"

"Hey! No girlfriend-names from my Dad, OK? That's just weird and creepy and wrong!"

"Oh so she is your girlfriend now?"

"Can we discuss my love life some time I'm not in danger of drowning?!"

"Shh, it's alright. Relax. The water will hold you up. Just try to stay still. I've got you, Peter. I'm not going to let you go. You understand me? I'm not letting you go"

Peter tried to calm himself, tried to slow his hands up, settle his breathing back down, even out the exaggerated arch of his back in his effort to hold his head clear. The drag of the water was unsettling, not allowing him to move at his usual speed, but eventually he grew a little accustomed to it and fell still except for little pushes with his hands to stay even. As promised, Erik did not lose his grip on his waist, the rough, callused pads of his thumbs stroking very gently at his sides to comfort him.

"You're a natural swimmer, see?" he said. Peter snorted, "No really! That's a good position you have. Now just try gently kicking your legs up and down. Keep it gentle, slow and even as you can. I know that's a lot to ask"

Peter obeyed. It felt so unnatural, the way the water resisted his efforts to move, but eventually he'd settled into a rhythm. Erik encouraged him gently, until he was satisfied he could do it without panic and thrashing.

"When you do swim, you're going to be fast" he told him, "I know that won't surprise you. I was having trouble holding on there, you're very strong"

"Can we take a break? This is harder work than it looks"

Peter watched, sat on the deck beside the pool, whilst Erik swam a few lengths. It made him a little jealous how easy he made it look, gliding through the water gracefully before he had pulled himself out and come to sit beside his son. They were silent for a while, Peter making a face whilst he nibbled one of Hank's bars, before he'd said

"Wanda stopped swimming because of me, y'know"

"I'm sure that's not true," Erik soothed, "She might have just –"

"No, she told me." Peter interrupted. Rested his chin in his hands, stared at the decking, "She felt bad, being able to do all that stuff that I couldn't do anymore. Especially swimming – she always wanted to teach me herself. Then I got sick, and she couldn't"

He had taken the ugly red goggles off, and was turning them over in his hands. Erik smoothed back his son's dripping hair, a stormy charcoal colour when it was wet.

"We can give up a lot for the people we love, Peter, and very gladly" he said quietly, "Would you not have given up running, if Wanda had been in your position?"

The boy thought for a minute, nodded

"I'd have tried" he said. Smiled a tiny smile, offered the bag of bars to him, "You want one of these?"

"Definitely not"

"I don't blame you, man. They taste like crap" he pulled the goggles back on, edged himself closer to the pool, "Ready to go again?"

In a matter of a few hours, with breaks for Peter to rest and refuel, Erik had taught him the rudiments of a strong front crawl. Admired how he took to it so naturally, amazed that this boy who only yesterday had been too frightened to even get into the water now looked like he had been learning for months. One great advantage of Peter's incredible speed of processing was that learning a new skill took no time, and it really did seem that his lithe body was perfectly suited to the pool. Once he had got over his fear of the water, grew to trust it a little, he had taken to it beautifully. Eventually, Erik had suggested that he tried a little further step.

"I'll hold onto you," he assured him, "But I'm going to let you move across the pool. Are you ready?"

"As I'll ever be"

"Good. My arms are getting tired holding you back. You're like a greyhound straining in the traps you know"

A moment more to prepare himself, and Peter started to put his practice into play. Erik did his best to edge along and keep his grip, one hand resting in the small of his back, the other pushing up under his belly, but he was going too fast, and slipped out of his father's hands like an eel.

"Peter! Stop!"

Erik called out. Standing at the opposite edge of the pool, Peter looked at the ledge he was beside, looked at his father standing six feet away, did a quick burst of mental geometry and a shocked smile spread across his face.

"Dude, did I just swim?" he said, "Like, by myself?"

"Yes…. You certainly did"

Peter's celebratory air-punch was cut unceremoniously short as his heels skidded out from underneath him. Instinctively taking a breath but just an instant too late as his head went under. The next thing he knew, Erik had thrown him out onto the side of the pool and was hitting him between the shoulder-blades forcefully. He coughed up another mouthful of water, wheezed for a moment, hair hanging in his face.

"Are you alright?!" Erik demanded, "Can you breathe?"

Peter nodded. Choked again for a minute or two, then lowered himself from his knees to sit on the deck. For a short while, he just breathed. Erik looked poised to thump him again, until he had tried out a smile and said

"Can I try that again?"


	4. Chapter 4

"Are you sure you won't take up a teaching post?" Charles asked, looked up at his old friend standing beside him on the balcony. They could hear shouting and laughter from across the grounds, the sounds of happy carefree young people that always made Charles feel he was doing something right. "You seem to have done a very good job"

"He's a very apt pupil" Erik said simply. Did not elaborate. Watched in silence for some time. Jubilee shrieked as Scott grabbed at her legs under the water and pulled her under, came up laughing and scooped a double handful of water at his face.

"Can you swim, Charles?"

"I should hope so, I was on the rowing team!" he laughed, then sobered, "These days – well, if I were pushed, I imagine I've got enough strength in my arms to get by. If I had to, that is"

"My father taught me to swim too," Erik said, didn't take his eyes off the figures in the pool, "In a manner of speaking. I fell in a lake. He stayed close to make sure I didn't drown and waited until I swam"

His hands tensed on the balustrade as Jean gathered up a big ball of water, holding it for a moment before she had flung it at Peter's face. He was knocked off his feet, went under. Erik held his breath until his son surfaced and immediately dived at the girl, knocking her over in return. At last, Erik smiled, relieved and proud.

"You're very lucky, you know" Charles was saying, "To have the chance to be in his life now. You're better for it"

"I know." He replied.

"He's alright you know, Erik. You don't have to watch him every second – in fact, you can't. He's got to lead his own life. Just be there when he needs you, that's all you have to do"

"He always needs me" Erik said, "But you're right. He's not a child, even if he acts like one at times"

Jean had mounted Scott's shoulders, Jubilee sitting astride Peter's, the girls laughing shrilly as they tried to push the other off.

"It doesn't do anybody any harm to have a certain childlike quality" Charles told him, "That's how we stay kind. Keep on wondering, and hoping"

"Oh please don't begin one of your tiresome diatribes on hope and goodness, Charles"

The Professor laughed, looked up at his friend, saw a small smile on his hard features that said that such tiresome diatribes were not entirely lost on him. Finally weary, the four young people were climbing out to sit beside the pool, their backs to the balcony. Scott had his arm around Jean's shoulders. Jubilation made to push Peter in again, but caught him before he fell all the way. Both pealed with laughter.

"Staying for dinner?" Charles asked. Erik shook his head.

"I have to go, I've got a meeting I can't miss. Do tell Peter I said goodnight"

Charles closed his eyes for a moment. Down by the pool, Peter turned, shielded his eyes against the sun, then waved. Cupped his hands to his mouth and yelled

"Bye, Dadneto! Happy trails!"

Erik waved back, smiled fondly.

"You hate him calling you that don't you?" Charles grinned

"Oh yes." Erik said. "But I wouldn't stop him."


End file.
